General Electric, the US engineering giant, has predicted a new “industrial revolution” worth $1 trillion a year as wind turbines, oil pipelines and aircraft components become connected to the internet.

Mark Elborne, GE’s head of the UK and Ireland, predicted that the industrial world is set to mirror the consumer internet revolution of the 1990s, which has brought instant, on-demand information to billions of people.

GE, the American institution that helped develop the lightbulb, the commercial jet engine and the MRI scanner, is investing heavily in what it calls the “industrial internet” – adding millions of sensors and connectors to aerospace, energy and medical equipment.

Mr Elborne, speaking at The Telegraph’s Digital Leaders conference on Wednesday, said that this would mean equipment that can relay up-to-the-minute data on how well it is working, preventing industrial failures that can put lives at risk and waste billions of dollars.

Although this presents major opportunities – planes that uses less fuel, oil rigs that know where they need fixing, and wind farms that can check themself for safety – hackers will also try to exploit these “smart” machines, he added.

Connecting more components to the internet will mean more cyber attacks, attempting to bring down aircraft and take control of energy supplies.

“It’s an industry-wide issue that warrants a collective response,” Mr Elborne said. “Companies that don’t have really good industrial cybersecurity are going to be left behind.”

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This article was written by James Titcomb from The Daily Telegraph and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

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